The Value of a Friend

Do you ever have that moment when a friend calls you out of the blue to say "I was thinking about you today...I hope things are going well in your life" right when you expect it the least but you need it the most? It's a really good feeling, and I've had a couple friends call me recently right when I needed to take five and talk with a buddy.

While I appreciate the times that friends call from far and wide to offer encouragement and give reprieve from my studying, I often overlook the fact that my closest friend and confidant lives right under the same roof. Yes, it's true...my wife Monica is my very best friend. Almost seven years of marriage, four kids/two houses/career changes and being back in school she's still the one I love the mostest. But amidst the daily grind of classes at Kent, drive time to and from campus, studying at home, Monica teaching T in kindergarten, wrangling the other littles, getting breakfast, lunch, dinner, baths, diapers, bedtime...I (often) forget that she would like to hear about how my day went, whether anything exciting went on, and whether I'm actually interested in the things that SHE experienced that day.

Monica sat down at my side yesterday while I was engrossed in some nursing terminology on my laptop; she just sat there for a few minutes until, evidently exasperated with my continued zombie-like focus on a digital screen she sweetly closed the computer, looked at me with her beautiful blue-green eyes, and mentioned that I was the one who spends 8-10 hours of my day in an environment not dominated by little people under the age of six, and I actually get to have regular grown-up conversation. Yeah, I forget that sometimes. The fact is, I do get to talk with interesting people and learn some pretty interesting stuff every day, while my lovely wife dedicates her entire day to caring for our kids. I know other husbands and wives out there experience this same situation or one very similar on a regular basis. I'm going to try hard to break the trend and spend a little additional time dedicated to my very best friend. Shoot, I think I'm gonna log out of this thing and go talk with her now...until later my friends!